AB to sell stake in City Beverage distributorship

Cans of Budweiser beer are displayed in a deli on February 27, 2013 in New York City. (Spencer Platt / Getty Images)

Anheuser-Busch has agreed to sell its interest in Chicago's City Beverage, its largest local distributor.

The agreement is part of a bill expected to clear the Illinois House this week, ending a multi-year battle that amounted to a referendum on how alcohol is regulated in the state.

"Anheuser-Busch is pleased with the agreement reached with the Illinois legislature as it relates to our minority investment in City Beverage," Mark Bordas, region vice president of state affairs with Anheuser-Busch said in a statement.

The world’s largest brewer, owned by Leuven, Belguim-based Anheuser-Busch InBev, has until Jan. 1, 2015, to sell off its interest in City.

Most states regulate alcohol sales through what's called a "three-tier system," designed to separate manufacturing, distribution and retail sales between different business interests.

The bill, HB 2606, amends the Liquor Control Act of 1934 and states that "no person licensed as a manufacturer of beer ... shall have any interest, directly or indirectly, in a holder of a distributor's license or importing distributor's license."

"I know of no opposition to my legislation," Rep. Frank Mautino said in a statement released Wednesday by the Associated Beer Distributors of Illinois. He did not immediately respond to a request for additional comment.

Bill Olson, president of the distributor's association, said the amendment sprung from meetings held by Senate President John Cullerton, including Anheuser-Busch, MillerCoors, Wine and Spirits Distributors of Illinois, and his organization.

Anheuser and the Illinois Liquor Control Commission have been involved in a string of litigation on this issue since the ILCC blocked the world's largest brewer from acquiring City Beverage in 2010.

BDT Capital, an investment firm owned by Byron Trott, now owns 70 percent of City Beverage. BDT did not immediately respond to a request for comment on this story.